A Strange Marriage Notice

While browsing old newspaper records, I found one that really caught my eye as perhaps the strangest notice of matrimony I have yet seen, particularly as the marriage took place in 1818:

At St. Johns, N. B., Mr. Samuel Carter to Mrs. Woodward, widow – She was in a state of nudity while the ceremony was performed, which, according to an old custom, exonerates the new husband from any liability for the former husband’s debts. Source: Village Record, May 8, 1818